Leave Me Breathless
by mickeylover303
Summary: Nick pushes until Greg can no longer deny. Slash. Identity Crisis tag.


_Nick peered carefully into the car, tightly gripping the flashlight in his hand. At first glance, nothing in the car seemed too suspicious._

_Opening the door, he seated himself on the passenger side of car, intent on searching through the glove department. Hoping to find something that would break the case._

_He brought the light over the dashboard. Definitely dusty but no incriminating evidence. He turned his attention to the centre console. There were various receipts, among them one was from a gas station. Another from –_

"_Is this the car the guy was killed in?" Nick jumped at the Greg's sudden appearance. Startled by his voice._

"_He was killed in the warehouse and don't sneak up on a person like that."_

"_Now you know how I feel, like, ten times a day." Greg tried to defend himself. "So what's this Millander guy's thing?"_

"_He saw his dad killed when he was killed over some money dispute. Ends up killing guys himself."_

"_Check that out." Nick showed Greg a small piece of discoloured paper. "An eight digit number with a dash."_

"_Pep Boys receipt? Dry cleaning tags?"_

"_Well, whatever it is, it happened during the summer. Paper only burns itself into plastic in high levels of heat."_

"_So what kind of paper item would you shove into the centre console in the heat of summer?"_

"_Something you didn't want. Or something you had to keep." Greg looked thoughtful of Nick's response._

_Both their musing interrupted by the ringing of Nick's pager. "Powwow."_

_Nick started to remove himself from car, Greg watching his every movement. "Later."_

* * *

"Hey, Boss. You got time to spare?" Greg watched as Nick sauntered into the break room. A relaxed smile on his face as he plopped on the nearest available seat. 

Which happened to be on the couch.

Right next to Greg.

A good and bad thing in Greg's opinion. "Being as this is where I work, I guess I have nothing _but_ time. And even though I'm technically on my break, I'm going to be generous and indulge you."

"I'm counting on it." Greg could have sworn he saw Nick wink, but that's probably just lack of sleep. Or his emotions getting the best of him. So he quickly shrugged the idea.

"However, I can't give you anything if you haven't given me anything." He hadn't seen Nick since they were in the car earlier. And really hadn't expected to see him any time, soon.

"So, what do you have for me?" He pointed to Nick's empty hands. Which were resting pretty close to Greg's thighs. Those nice – But Greg stopped that train of thought. It wouldn't be good finish with Nick right beside him.

"Nothing else to give, this time." Greg distracted by Nick's yawn, didn't notice Nick draping his arm on the back of the couch, suspiciously close to touching his neck.

No.

Greg was too interested in the crinkles that surrounded Nick's eyes. Those eyes, so expressive when opened, Greg loved to see them closed. Because it felt nice to think that Nick could feel relaxed around him. That Nick would let his guard down around Greg.

He really didn't know when his admiration for Nick turned into something more. To the point were he would become unusually brash in his actions. Like earlier today, when he found himself particular close to the other man. Almost too entranced to pay attention to what Nick actually said.

"Want to catch a bite after shift?" But Greg was thrown into reality at the sound of Nick's voice so near. Had he gotten closer?

"Huh?"

"You're dazing on me, Sanders. Do you want to grab something to eat?"

It was like a dream. And Greg resisted the urge to pinch himself because he was pretty sure he wasn't asleep.

Still, Greg knew better than to think Nick wanted to spend time with him. But then why the sudden invitation? Usually Sara or Warrick would invite him to eat with them. And sometimes Catherine, too.

So where was Nick coming from?

"Not that I don't like eating with you guys, but why?" Or was it really because he snuck up on Nick, earlier? Did Nick plan to embarrass him or something?

"Is it because what happened in the car, earlier? Because I didn't mean to scare you or anything." And he didn't. He was too busy enjoying the rare proximity he had with Nick. Because he didn't know when it would happen again.

"But seriously, now you know how I feel." Although it wasn't quite the truth, Greg thought ruefully.

How would Nick know that his very presence would send shivers throughout his frame? Those times when he would constantly hover over him. When he could practically feel that firm chest pressed snugly against his back.

It was almost as if Nick was purposely teasing him.

Sometimes those moments became too tempting, and Greg felt like he wouldn't be able to hide from Nick, anymore. Wouldn't be able to deny his feelings because he wouldn't have the will to fight them.

"Uh-uh. You didn't scare me." Greg was glad that he didn't offend Nick earlier, but wished his own presence actually did something for Nick. "And shouldn't you be used to it by now?"

"Uh, no…" Just like he should be used to Nick's need to be so close? "So, what's this about?"

"What? Of all a sudden we can't hang out? I told you I'd see you later. And you eat with us all the time."

"Yeah, but not outside the lab. And we're usually talking about a case." Greg almost lost his eye contact with Nick. It was beginning to get uncomfortable having Nick so near. "Who else is coming?"

"Nobody." And that pursed smile Nick wore wasn't very reassuring. "Just the two of us."

"Really." Greg took time to consider the proposal. Being alone with Nick was bad enough. But being alone with Nick outside the lab was something he wouldn't be able to handle. "What's the catch?"

"What? A guy can't invite a friend for dinner?"

"Not when said friend hasn't been on said guy's good side for a while."

"Greggo, that's not true. And not counting earlier, either. You just..."

"What? I annoy you. I bother you. I'm in the way." He'd certainly been told worse.

"I'll admit you can get on my nerves sometimes, but it doesn't mean I don't like you."

"Thanks Nick. Inflate my ego a bit more, will you?"

"I don't mean it like that, man. I'm just not used to being around someone so..."

"So what?" And what was he to Nick? Definitely not what he wanted to be.

"Energetic. You're always bouncing off the walls."

"But really, why?" He tried to ignore the hurt look Nick wore. His scepticism must have been pretty plain on his face. "I mean, you never gave me much thought, before."

"I haven't?" Brow furrowing at the slyness in Nick's voice, it was then Greg truly noticed how close Nick was. Almost jumping when he felt an arm loosely draped around his neck.

His breath caught as Nick continued leaned in, moving that much closer. Their faces nearly pressed together.

The tension made Greg feel weak. So utterly weak with the slightest touch of Nick's lips upon his.

Almost as if they were about to kiss.

Any more and Greg would be sure to lose all feeling in his body. He was almost still, except for the small tremors. He could feel his mind practically turning to mush. He couldn't work well in these conditions.

With Nick so obviously close to him.

Didn't he know that glass walls only enhanced the element of voyeurism?

Greg felt the heat rise in his cheeks as Nick's face moved over his shoulder. He could feel himself leaning heavily on Nick. Almost moulding their bodies together.

If this really was a dream, Greg decided he never wanted to wake up.

He could feel the warmth of Nick's breath ghost over his neck. Sending tingles up and down his spine. Shivering in anticipation for something that he wasn't sure was really happening.

It was antagonising.

As Nick moved to whisper in his ear, Greg could only hope the small gasp he heard wasn't his. "Because I never did thank you for the peanuts."

* * *

_Again, I do not own CSI, even though I know a fair amount concerning it. This was a response to a challenge, which I'm not sure if I answered correctly or not. I tried to stay away from my quirky humour but it came out in the end, anyway. _

_There were two allusions to season one in this fic...Yes that's how much of a Nick/Greg dork I am. The first was Nick being scared in The Strip Strangler, and the second is from Nick and Grissom's conversation in Evaluation Day._


End file.
